Question 4: Response to Olivia Gude

Question 4:

Olivia Gude is after a change in contemporary art education. Gude argues that having 7 strict principles or elements of design seems to be a modern concept. That leading thinkers in art education at the turn of the century never mentioned any sort of list of concrete elements or principles that students needed to learn or to be practicing to become meaningful artists or to engage in thought provoking soul expressing art work. In talking about contemporary teaching textbooks which apply the 7 principles Gude vents:

 Oliva Gude touching up one of her murals.

"The artworks are viewed and understood using the streamlined 7 + 7 Euro-American system of describing form, therefore students often do not learn the aesthetic context of making and valuing inherent to the artists and communities who actually created the work."

Gude asserts that much of art teaching can fall into problematic one sided western storytelling projects, which can lead to a hazard when observing work form other cultures or places, turning international/inter-cultural art into something to be appropriated for use in western aesthetic culture and education.
Gude talks about how instructors such as Paul Klee taught exercises such as drawing a line not a s a preliminary test or exercise to help student s move to the next level of drawing but rather as a means for them to realize and experience intimately the "social energy released by abstract art." [Gude]

Gude goes on to question and compare our system of art education with those pioneered in the early 20th century by figures such as Dow:

"Dow advocated a new system of art education he believed would bring to the student "an increase of creative power" (1920/1997, p. 65). But 75 years have passed since he wrote those words. We owe it to our field and our students to study the art of our times and to begin, as Dow did, with probing questions and far reaching goals. What do our students need to know to understand the art of many cultures, from the past and the 21st century? Today, what knowledge do students need to stimulate and increase their creative powers?"

"Burg und Sonne"  A piece by Paul Klee

I love the questions she poses. I believe that a sincere pondering of these questions could lead each individual to understanding better what type of curriculum their students might need planned that year in order to engage in vibrant question provoking experimental creation.

However there is some merit to having an across the board teaching of artistic principles and elements of design, such as shading, perspective, and value. These principles or elements can greatly help a student who is striving to learn how to represent realistically the world around them, or perhaps give them tools which they can then bend as they move into more modern or abstract methods of creation. There is something to be said also of having students grounded in basic principles across the nation so that colleges and universities may have a better grasp on what their students have experienced and conscientiously plan a curriculum for entering students.

However I ultimately side with Gude. if we are to create a space for innovation perhaps it is time to ease off the ones sided approach to what it means to be an artist. Perhaps this would open up a realm of possibilities in education for teachers and students alike who before shied away form art because they "could barely draw a stick figure."

Art is so much more than just blatant realism, which seems to be what the 7 elements and principles of design focus on, creating a  greater opportunity for feelings of failure and boredom in art classrooms.

Gude suggests creating a curriculum that is based around what the students are experiencing in their communities juxtaposed against art movements such as modernism and postmodernism. This gives students a chance to use art as a channel for engaging in life in more meaningful relevant ways. Thus their art education simultaneously becomes increasingly relevant and meaningful.

Perhaps it is indeed time to change the way we approach our art curriculum as a nation.

Question 5: importance of media arts literacy, critical pedagogy

5)
Media arts literacy is the ability for a person to create and respond to media in a variety of modes, formats, and genres. A media literate person will be able to analyze and create messages using various media sources available in our 21st century world.
Much of our communication increasingly incorporates technological media resources such as webpages, apps, social media forums, etc. It is really important to be media literate in order to be able to stay informed but also have an equal voice in this rapidly changing global community we are inextricably linked to.

Critical pedagogy is designed to help students to learn to question theories or practices that currently dominate schools of thought, methods of practice in our world at large, but especially or schools.

This is an important skill to develop, as it creates diversity of thought in a classroom and innovation, as new skills or ways of thinking may be employed to solve a problem or discuss a subject. It creates a space for students and teachers to become informed leaders in their own lives rather than blind followers of that which is generally accepted on the principles that it is simply been previously established as a way of approaching something.

Question 3: What contexts define the art we view in our class?

3)

The contexts we generally seem to view and discuss art through in our contemporary criticism class seem to be based around social contexts. What is going on now in society that may have prompted the creation of this piece of art? How might that affect how we react to or interact with this piece of art/ movement?

We also seem to view art through a context of the ideology/ school of thought the artist may  have been influenced by while working. Some example so of this may be post modernism, modernism, ect.

Question 1- color swatches and abstract monochromatic images

Near the beginning of the semester we painted these monochromatic pieces. They paintings have an abstactionist feel to them, in that they seem little concerned with representing any one thing form the natural world. It is paint on paper scattered and splattered simply for the desire to scatter and move paint about. In this reasoning they seem to fit in quite nicely with the modernist movement which expressly rejects the idea of realism (and largely reactionary to advancement sin technology and the sciences) calls for a reexamination (and in a lot of cases rejection) traditional systems or methods of doing something.

Based upon the intent of these pieces, they could also be seen as post modern, if the intent was purely to make art, not necessarily to make any sort of statement that could be tied to a theory ideology or concept.

Post modernist often have a problem with any label of "art", and seek to separate themselves from the modernists who are concerned with defining certain aspects of their art in an attempt to move away from the traditional. A modernist may look at this image and be pleased with the lack of representation. With the "randomness" of movement and the use of acrylic paint as medium.(a paint which is manufactured from plastics, a product of the 20th century.) A post modernist may look at  this same image and appreciate it for slightly different reasons. Perhaps for the lack of an y seeming message. Perhaps for the relationship the piece of art seems to have with the action of putting paint to paper versus, communicating anything to an audience.


We also painted color swatches of our skin tone, which we then placed on black and grey backgrounds to see how the change of back ground color might affect how we viewed the color swatches. Color deals with the combination of colors one uses in ones work of art and how those colors playoff each other to effect the eye of the viewer.The colors we placed against the back of the skin color  swatches dramatically affected (in my opinion) the appearance of the color swatches. Making some swatches appear lighter, more pinkish white, and others appear darker, with yellow orange hints in them.

We have been talking a lot about race and how society may perceive us based on our background, skin color or the objects we carry with us. It is so easy to label people based on these things.

The color swatches changed how they appeared according to where they were placed. The same is often true for us as human beings and especially those of non-white skin tones. Place someone in baggy sorts and a hood, and they are generally thought to be suspicious or dangerous, as opposed to just relaxing in comfortable clothing. A modernist perhaps would view these images with the intent of understanding how thees pieces spoke to the race conflict present in our society in an abstract way, and appreciate the method of communicating perhaps that issue through non-descript images.

A post modernist could view these piece with an eye of skepticism knowing that each person will view these pieces differently based on their view of society and  "truth". Perhaps they might want to engage in a critical conversation on why these colors were chosen. What could they represent to any number of people? Do they convey a message that is relevant and important for our society to be asking at this time? Does the way we view race affect how we view these paintings and the messages we may gain from our time spent observing them?

A thing is a pedagogy

"A tulip for instance offers a way of standing in the world."

Thursday Dan Barney came and taught our class. He read to us out of several books that he is currently learning from. I loved that. So many of the books were so thought provoking. Each line almost seemed to be like a proverb. I drew out some of the lines I liked best in my sketch book, so I could go back and back and ponder them.

"The most discrete domains house infinite variation."

"All is becoming."

"A thing is a pedagogy. Does a thing ever teach you?"

I loved the last line. the ida that all things created and still can have a role in teaching us something if we are willing to listen observe and ask. Like what does a door teach you? or a candle? or a tree?

"We need the saguaro cactus to teach us how to grow boldly in the sun."

I love that thought too. Mainly because I love the saguaro. I've spent a lot of time around them. They are such a comforting plant in my opinion.

"When you look at your food- when you really look at it- the cosmos is in your porridge." -thought clark goldsberry shared from buddhist teachings.

"Theory has split the world in two halves-theory and nature."

Portable Student Gallery

Tuesday Jethro came to class and shared with us a bit about some of the projects he has done with his students. He is an art teacher at a high school here in Utah.

The project I loved best that he talked about was this fold up art gallery that he built a couple years back, to give students a gallery space to show their work.

Whats awesome about  this is that it is a gallery that can be transported and placed almost anywhere. So kids can have their gallery displayed at a school board meeting, or at a park or n the hallway of their school.Where ever they feel their show would best be displayed.

The other thing I love about this portable gallery is that it gives students a clear goal to work toward when they are creating art pieces. they know their work will be shown and that changes how you work, and why you work.their is more purpose to pieces, and the students get to curate a real show. Something they may never get to do again.